When garments are fabricated from knitted or other stretchy materials the sewing machine operators are required to exercise extra care and accuracy during the sewing function so as to properly form and connect the materials together. For example, when a binding, such as a collarette is to be formed from a web of knitted material and sewn to a garment piece, the material must be folded into the binding fold configuration and the other garment piece inserted into the folded over web. This procedure should take place without stretching one of the garment pieces more than the other garment piece in order to avoid wrinkling or "puckering" one of the pieces at their line of connection. A folder is usually employed to form the collarette into a binding fold, as by forming a preliminary fold and then turning the binding material through an angle toward the sewing machine and everting the preliminary fold into the binding fold. As the preliminary fold is everted, the workpiece is inserted into the binding fold and the two pieces are then pulled by the sewing machine on into the needle.
Various folders have been used in the past which are shaped to form the web of material in the proper folded configuration. Examples of prior art disclosures of folders are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,026,484, 3,134,347, 3,595,187, 3,776,156 and in West German Pat. No. 1,813,422.
While the prior art folders have functioned successfully in that they progressively form web material into a folded configuration as the material approaches a sewing station, the prior art folders and the workpiece must be accurately matched in size in order for the folder to function correctly. For example, if the folder is designed for receiving a web of material that is one and one-half inches wide and for folding the web into a binding which is five-eighths inch wide, and if the material is cut to an excessive width of one and three-fourths inches wide, the material will not pass through the folder, or if the material does pass through the folder the folder will not properly form the material and the material tends to drag and stretch inside the folder and form an improper collarette on the final work product. This requires the manufacturer to discard or to recut the oversized binding material to the proper size.
In many instances it is impossible to recut binding material that is slightly wider than the desired width, and the binding material must be discarded or used for some other purpose. The manufacturer is then required to obtain more binding material to finish the previously cut garments. The supplementary binding material usually is obtained from a different dye lot, and in most instances the supplementary material will not match the color of the original material when the final work product is assembled.
In some instances it would be possible to use the overcut binding material if another folder were available for the job. For example, the manufacturer may have in his stock a one and three-fourths inch binder folder that folds a web to a five-eighths inch wide binding that he can use as a substitute for the one and one-half inch folder, and he therefore can solve his problem with the overcut binding material. However, solving the problem in this manner requires the manufacturer to stock a multiple number of folders and to change the folders from one run to the next when it is discovered that the binding material is supplied in different widths.